2 children killed in ‘horrific’ shooting at Minneapolis Catholic school

Two children were killed and 17 other people were injured in a mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis on Wednesday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called “horrific.”

According to local law enforcement, the shooter sprayed bullets into an all-school mass service at Annunciation Catholic School, meant to mark the first week of classes in the academic year. Two children were killed in the shooting and 17 people were injured, including 14 children, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a press conference. The assailant, whom O’Hara identified as Robin Westman, 23, was confirmed dead on the scene as the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police are still working to identify a motive, he said.

FBI officials are investigating the shooting “as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X. O’Hara said the assailant was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, and used all three.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey delivered an emotional condemnation of the shooting at a joint press conference with the local police department outside the school later Wednesday morning, saying “there are no words that can capture the horror and the evil of this unspeakable act — children are dead.”

“Don’t just say, ‘This is about thoughts and prayers right now.’ These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church,” Frey said. “These are kids that should be learning with their friends. They should be playing on the playground. They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence.”

President Donald Trump expressed his condolences after reports of the shooting first emerged Wednesday morning, saying he had been briefed on the attack and that the FBI was already on the scene.

“I have been fully briefed on the tragic shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The FBI quickly responded and they are on the scene. The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved!” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The White House confirmed that Trump and Walz had spoken by phone about the shooting.  “Minnesotans will not step away,” Walz said at a press conference. “We’ll stand with this community. We’ll redouble ourselves to do the best we can to understand what we can do to prevent any parent from having to receive the calls they received today. From any school dedicated to children having to respond to a situation that as we said is unthinkable, but that’s all too common, not just in Minnesota but across this country. It’s Minnesota’s day today. And it’s my strongest desire that no state, no community, no school ever experiences a day like this.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told MSNBC that she had spoken to a longtime friend and parent of three children who had been in the mass when the shooting began.

“This is just a horrific, tragic act of violence,” Klobuchar said. “Talking to her was probably one of the most upsetting things I’ve ever heard. Her daughter, who’s seventh grade, was in that church. These kids are doing the all-school mass and had to watch several of her friends get shot. One in the back, one in the neck, and they all got down under the pews.”

The Minnesota senator said that Wednesday’s shooting was not unique to her home state, but was reflective of a broader pattern of gun-related violence growing across the country.

“Right now, my thoughts are with the people I know and the state I love. But this is going on all over the nation and has for too long,” Klobuchar said, adding that “we need better laws on the books nationally” to ban assault weapons and bolster school safety.

The gunfire was the latest in a series of fatal shootings in the city in less than 24 hours. One person was killed and six others were hurt in a shooting Tuesday afternoon outside a high school in Minneapolis. Hours later, two people died in two other shootings in the city.

The shooting also comes after two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses were shot in their homes earlier this summer, in attacks that Walz at the time decried as “politically motivated violence.”